Week 7

This week while Ed was on annual leave, I had a couple of great days out with Natural England where I got to visit their office in Norwich and meet the team. I had an amazing time as I also got to meet Jennifer Love, my supervisor for my smelt recovery project, in person. Day 1 was spent travelling to Norwich on the train and doing a wide range of games and quizzes. We did marine animal origami, and quizzes about a range of topics including marine ecosystems and renewable energies. Then we had lunch outside by the river in the sun, it was great to get chatting with everyone from different offices around the east coast. The afternoon was spent listening to presentations about the ongoing projects that Natural England are working on, which I found super interesting. I felt very lucky to get a glimpse into the work they do as up until now my understanding was more superficial and from other organisations perspectives. We finished the day with a presentation on Orford Ness which is a site that Natural England have designated due to its vegetated shingle; one that we would visit the next day.

Day 2 was spent travelling from Norwich to Orford Ness. Our trip started with a short boat ride which was a great way to start the day. Once we were all onto the site safely, we piled into an army style trailer van and drove out to the furthest point of our walk back. The scenery was unlike anything we’d ever seen before and everyone was blown away by the stark contrast of eerie derelict Ministry of Defence (M.O.D) buildings and marine ecosystems around us.

On our short drive we saw Chinese water deer and hares roaming around freely. After disembarking our guide gave us a short talk about the Orford Ness M.O.D site and what they currently know about it. This site was used for many activities including atomic bomb testing and the development of RADAR. However, some of the buildings and their activities were reclassified as secret once their 50-year limitation period was up, therefore the total history of the site remains unknown to the general public. National Trust bought the site from the M.O.D. in 1993 because of the importance of the site’s vulnerable and fragile coastal vegetated shingle. This site also is now the home for Suffolk’s first known colony of breeding grey seals. The National Trust believes that due to the pandemic and the limited access of the beach to the general public the grey seals reclaimed the beach for their colony. Further supporting this idea their natural breeding season on this part of the coast coincides with the time that Orford Ness is closed to the public; hopefully this will allow the new colony to thrive here. Although everyone is excited about this news, the National Trust are asking people to stay away during breeding season and avoid using disturbances like drones as this can negatively impact the grey seal colony.

Kiera

Week 8

Ed here, back after a week away in Devon. Spending time at the seaside was a theme that continued for me on my first couple of days back, as Kiera and I travelled up to Spurn National Nature Reserve, in order to help with the annual seagrass seed collection. Here, we met with AJ, Wilder Humber Seagrass Restoration Officer, and Georgia, Seagrass Restoration Assistant Officer. We were initially shown around the Wilder Humber HQ at Spurn, and also briefly met Laura, the Native Oyster Restoration Officer. It was really informative and inspiring to see these restoration specialists in their place of work, and learn more about what goes on at Spurn!

After loading up the truck, we drove along the beach to reach the seagrass meadows. The species present at Spurn is dwarf eelgrass (Zostera noltei), and Kiera and I were both taken aback by how much there was! Once we had arrived and been informed on what to do, we got to work. The goal was to collect mature seed pods, and this was done by lying on bodyboards and picking through the seagrass to find them.

The seeds will then be collected from these seed pods, which will then be used to increase the extent of the seagrass meadows at Spurn by the Wilder Humber team. Monday and Tuesday afternoons and early evenings were spent collecting, and we had a fantastic time surrounded by nature, and chatting away with Georgia and AJ. A big shout out and thank you to them for having us, we both had an amazing time at Spurn, enjoying beautiful scenery, exciting restoration, and great company!

The rest of the week was quieter, with us both returning to our offices to continue working on our projects. We are happy with how they are coming along, and have been busy discussing with various people within the partner organisations. Our next blog will also be split between the two of us, as Kiera is away next week. We hope everyone is having a great end to their summer!

Ed